March 9th

Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the Parent-Teacher Conferences. I enjoyed having the opportunity to share all the great accomplishments of your amazing littles!

This week we will be doing some activities centered around St Patrick's Day. The class will be talking about St. Patrick's Day and the folklore surrounding leprechauns. We might even be inspired to build some traps to try to catch one. We will be graphing Lucky Charm cereal, counting gold and writing about what we would do if we found a leprechaun or a pot of gold. We will also be making up some some rhyming word pairs for a St. Patrick's Day poem.  Our trick word for the week is "me".  

For the last week before March Break , Glen Stewart has planned a Spirit Week with some special days. Please see the poster listed below.

I hope everyone enjoys their break and finds some time to have fun with your family and friends.

March 2nd

This week we will be starting to explore the five senses. Our big book will be My Five Senses-A Lion's Tale. The children will be participating in a variety of activities such as taste tests, smell guessing games, feely bags and blindfolded guessing games.

Our focus will be on the number 9 and it's combinations. We will also be working on some math story problems. Our trick word this week  will be "here".

If you have not already done so, please sign up for this week's Parent Teacher conferences. I look forward to meeting with you all and talking about all the great things your littles have been up to. 

https://gsp.parentteacherconferences.net/

Our class will be visiting the Book Fair on Thursday.

Just a reminder that there are no classes this Friday due to Parent Teacher conferences.

One of the stories that we read last week for Pink Shirt Day awareness was Have You filled a Bucket Today? by  Carol McCloud

It talks about filling someone's bucket by being kind and that unkind actions can result in being a bucket dipper.

I have attached a link below so that you can watch it at home. 

February 23rd

It is hard to believe that this is the last week of February. The children and I will be discussing the old expression of March coming in like a lion and out like a lamb. Hopefully it doesn't prove to be true and we are done of stormy weather for the year.

 Our long awaited Valentine's exchange on Tuesday was a lot of fun. The children really enjoyed being able to share Valentines with their friends. Thank you to all who contributed to our celebration.

Winter Wellness Day was a huge hit! The weather was perfect and the children had a blast sledding and doing the orienteering on the playground to find pictures of winter animals hidden throughout. The indoor sport stations were also a lot of fun! What a great way to wrap up the 2026 Olympics.

This week we are continuing to play catch up. We are going to be doing combinations of 8 and also some math story problems.In Fundations we are continuing with our introduction to Unit 3 and our trick word this week is "come".

Pink Shirt Day is on Wednesday and we will be talking about kindness and doing some writing about ways we can be kind.

Wednesday February 25th  -We will be having Pink Shirt Day to recognize and embrace kindness and inclusion.  Students are encouraged to wear a pink shirt if they have one or a shirt that reflects kindness.  For more information on the day visit   https://pinkshirtdaycanada.ca

I look forward to having the opportunity to meet with everyone at the upcoming Parent Teacher Conferences. 

February 17th

Happy Islander/Family Day!

I hope everyone had the opportunity for some family fun together.

We will be doing our Valentine's Day celebration and Valentine exchange on Tuesday. 

It has been a very busy time so far this January and February. We are going to use this week to do some Family Day and Lunar/Chinese New Year actvitites and get caught up on some activities and lessons that we did not get to because of PD and snow days.

In writing, the children are working on adding beginning sounds, words or sentences to their writing depending on where they are in their writing development. In Fundations we are beginning Unit 3  which talks about long and short vowels, indentifying beginning and ending sounds in words and blending three sounds into words. I will not be introducing any new trick words this week but will spend some time reviewing the ones we have already done. We will be doing guided reading in class but I will not be sending home any books this week.

In numeracy we are going to keep focusing on the number 8  and the various ways it can be represented. 

This Friday is Winter Wellness. The children are going to be participating in some indoor fitness stations ( i.e. snowboarding, curling, speed skating) as well as some outdoor activities. An extra set of mittens might be a good idea for the day. Friday is also the Jersey Day fundraiser for Cool Kids Care Club with proceeds going towards PEI Special Olympics.

February 9th

The children had a fantastic time on the field trip. The bowling was a big hit and everyone was great to take turns. There were some very interesting bowling techniques on display as well! 😄

The children are quite interested in the Winter Olympics. The opening assembly was alot of fun and the children are enjoying learning about the sports and all the different flags from each country represented.

We will be doing some Valentine's Day counting and writing this week, as well as playing games and exchanging Valentines during our class celebration on Thursday. We will also be doing some Family Day read alouds and activities.

 Our focus in math will be the number 8 and we will be solving some math word problems.

In Fundations we are continuing to review and practice upper case letters as well as tapping out and blending CVC ( consonant, vowel, consonant ) words. Our trick words this week are he and she.  We have been working in class on some decodable stories and have been practicing tapping out the sounds of unknown CVC words and blending them together to solve what they are. I will be sending some of these home for you to do with your children once we have a bit more practice with these skills.

Just a reminder that there will be no school on Friday, February 13th due to a Professional Leraning Day for staff and Monday, February 16th in recognition of Family Day.

February 2nd

Happy Groundhog Day! I hope that everyone was able to stay nice and cozy this winter weekend.  Hopefully Shubenacadie Sam will help us out and we will have an early spring. 

Our trick word this week is "love". We will continue our Fundations review of uppercase letters. We will also be finishing up many of the projects that we have been working on the last couple weeks. With all the special days and storm days it has been hard to fit everything in.

We are beginning to learn about the Winter Olympics and some of the traditions and sports. Our school assembly in on Friday and the children are encouraged to dress in the colours of their countries flag.

This week  we will also  be starting to do some Valentine's Day activities. We will be counting Valentine objects,doing some art activities and writing about Valentine's Day.  Our class will be exchanging Valentines in class on February 12th and I will send home the class list this week. If you would like to send in your child's Valentines before the 12th, I will gladly keep them until the big day. If anyone would like to send in Valentine's treats please keep in mind our peanut/tree nut free policy.

Field trip- Just a reminder that our bowling/library field trip is this Tuesday morning.  It should be a lot of fun!

January 26th

The month has sped by and we are now in our last week of January!  It is going to be very busy the next few weeks with many events to take part in. Family Literacy week is this week, followed by  the bowling/library field trip next Tuesday ( Feb 3rd). If you have not already had the opportunity to, please return the signed permission slip and $8:00 payment.  Winter Olympics, Valentine's Day, Winter Wellness Day and Lunar/Chinese New Year are right around the corner. Groundhog Day is also coming up quickly on February 2nd and we will be learning about the folklore of this tradition and making our own predictions. We will also be doing some Groundhog related crafts, writing and part part whole activities.

The children really enjoyed the story The Mitten. They were very curious about some of the animals that appeared in the story, as they are not animals that we may be  familiar with here in Atlantic Canada. We will be starting to do some research about the animals and will make a class  "learn about the world"  or non-fiction book with animal facts that we will put in our classroom library.

The trick word this week is "and".

We are focusing on the number 7 this week and will be doing some part part whole activities with bears in and out of the cave.

Two of this week's read alouds will be The Snowy Day by Ezra Brown Keats and a book with a hibernation theme by Denise Fleming called Time to Sleep. 

Here's a quick reminder of the week's special days /activities for Family Literacy Week

Wednesday- Dress as your favorite book character 

Friday- Pajama Day- for some cozy reading in class

January 19th

The class is continuing to talk about winter and winter activities. The children are enjoying reading the story The Mitten and learning about some of the animals featured in the story. This week we will be doing  a retell of the story and putting together mitten books of our own and using them to practice our trick words and one to one matching of words. The children have begun guided reading and are very excited to have their own stories to read. I am asking the children to return the books each week by the end of the week. There are limited copies of each book title available and I will need them for other groups the following week. Our trick word this week is "play".

We are continuing to work on our number sense concepts 6-10 and are going to be counting and recording the amount of sets of winter objects. The class will also be using mittens to measure themselves and their classmates (non standard measurement). 

One of our read alouds last week was Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright. It really captured the children's interest and they requested that we read it many times. We also created some Sneezy the Snowmen ourselves, by using shaving cream and glue.

Below is a picture of their creations and a link to a reading of the story on YouTube. 

Sneezy the Snowman 

January 5th

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and some time to relax and be with friends and family.

This week will be spent settling in and getting back to our normal (or as normal as it gets in kindergarten) routines after the holiday break. We will be doing some further exploration of patterns before moving on to number sense concepts with number 6-10. It will be a review week for our trick words and Fundations. This month we will be talking about winter and the various subjects related to this such as snow, winter activities and animal behaviours in winter. 

December 15th

Your children did at fantastic job at their Holiday Concert. It was so nice to see all those sweet smiling faces up on stage singing and dancing!

We will be using this last week before Christmas to finish up some projects and activities. The children have been having fun making gingerbread people with the gingerbread playdough we made together. We will continue  our gingerbread theme with the story Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett. Our class Christmas celebration will be on Friday. We will be decorating gingerbread cookies and having some treats. 

Fundations this week is the last two  letters to be introduced- q and z. The children are very excited about having done the WHOLE alphabet. Our trick word this week is "look".

Just a reminder of our upcoming Spirit Days for the last days of school before the Christmas break.     

Monday, December 16th- Dress in green, red,                    

Tuesday, December 17th- School wide Read Aloud with Ms MacKinnon and Ms Dunn

Wednesday, December 18th-  Festive attire (plaid, holiday shirt, holiday socks, etc..)  

Thursday,December 19th- School wide bingo

Friday, December 20th-Pajama Day  and School Carol Sing 

I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy and safe Christmas.  I hope you all find time to relax and connect with friends and family.

Happy Holidays

December 9th

It's concert week! I look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

( just a hint... When you are choosing your concert seats, our class will be on the right hand side if you are facing the stage.)

Our big book this week is My Puppy by Anne Brailsford which talks about the things a puppy needs. We will be using this book as a launching point for some social studies outcomes and learning about needs and wants and what the difference might be. It could lead to some interesting conversations around this time of year. The trick word this week is "my" and our letters are "y" and "x" . 

The children have been enjoying creating patterns in a variety of ways. We will be creating paper patterns for our class Christmas tree and light bulb patterns this week, as well as talking about sound patterns and patterns we see in our environment. 

December 1st

December is already here and the countdown to Christmas is on !

We will be continuing our look at patterns and making patterns with cube-a-links, as well as creating patterns from materials we find in the classroom.

In class we will be reading Mrs Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley. This is the first of three Mrs Wishy Washy books that we will be exploring. We will be using the book as a launching point to practice our trick words, one to one correspondence, syllables, and sequencing. The letters this week are v and w. The trick word is "you".

Holiday Concert

The morning and afternoon concerts for Kindergarten are on Tuesday, December 9h. This year we are asking students to come dressed in what their family decides is best for their concert performance. The children are wearing headbands for the performance, so for the children with long hair, lower ponytails etc.. would be easier when they go to put them on. 

November 24th

Thank you for attending the Parent-Teacher conferences. I really enjoyed meeting  with all of you and getting to know your children better through your eyes.

This week we will continue our unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. We will be reading the book Each Peach Pear Plum which features many of the characters that appear in the nursery rhymes we have been reading. We will be reading Goldilocks and the  Three Bears and doing some retelling and rhyme activities. 

It will be a three letter week in Fundations- l,h and k.  The trick word is "in".

In numeracy we will begin looking at patterns and sorting items by attributes ( size, colour, shape, etc...). We will be discovering patterns around us, as well as creating two part patterns of our own.

November 17th

Thank you for signing up to attend the Parent-Teacher conferences. I am looking forward to meeting with all of you this week.  If you have not already done so please use the following link to sign up. 

School Appointments 

This week we will continue our unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. We will be using Humpty Dumpty as a launching point for some sequencing, writing, rhyming and part part whole activities. We will be using materials that we can find in the classroom to build walls and see what will happen to Humpty when he falls. 

Our letters this week are "p" and "j" and the trick word is "go".  The kindergarten classes thought that because our letters are P & J this week, that we should celebrate by having a Pajama Day (P.J. Day).  We will be doing this on Thursday to wrap up the week. 

Just a reminder that there are no classes this Friday, November 21st due to Parent Teacher conferences.

Glen Stewart is having National Jersey Day on Wednesday.

November 12th

This week we will be starting a unit on nursery rhymes and fairy tales. The class  will be doing a lot of rhyming, writing and word play activities, as well as comparing different versions of the stories. If your child has any favorite books they would like to show the class please feel free to send them in.

Our letters/word this week are the same as last week- r and e and  "we". In Writer's Workshop we will be learning that illustrators use pencils and that illustrators label illustrations.

In numeracy we are doing some part part whole and number recognition activities with the quantity of five.

November 3rd

 I hope everyone took advantage of the extra hours sleep. 

The children had a wonderful time during the Halloween celebrations. Thank you for your generous treat contributions!

This short week and next, our letters will be e and r and the trick word is "we". We will be continuing to practice rhyming and doing some writing about all the wonderful stories your children have to tell.

 In numeracy we will be continuing to  work with five frames and looking at the various combinations of five.

We will be talking about Remembrance Day this week and preparing a wreath for our classroom. Just a reminder that there will be no school on Monday, November 10th ( Teacher Administration Day) and Tuesday, November 11th in honour of Remembrance Day.

There is also no school this Thursday and Friday ( November 6th and 7th ) due to the annual PEITF convention for teachers.

October 20th

Halloween is right around the corner! Our class party will be on Friday, October 31st. You can either dress your child in their costume if it is an easy one to wear ( please keep in mind trips to the bathroom), or you can send in the costume and we will get dressed in them before the party. I plan on having the party first thing in the morning and changing out of their costumes before recess. This will hopefully save on outside wear and tear and they will still have a costume left to wear on Halloween night. Please make sure they have street clothes to change back into if they come in their costumes. 

Our letters this week are "d" and "s" and the trick word is "is". Our topic for Writer's Workshop will be that illustrators illustrate colourful stories and that illustrators try their best.  In numeracy, we will be counting and creating sets of Halloween creatures , focusing on the numbers four and five as well as doing some sequencing activities with pumpkins.

October 14th

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we will continue on with Fall and Halloween fun. We will be counting Halloween items and making bat windsocks. The class will be looking at pumpkins and comparing and arranging them from biggest to smallest. Our letters this week are "a" and "g" and the trick word is "like". We will be doing some more activities that focus on syllables and rhyming. 

We will be having a class costume party on the Friday, October 31st . I will send out some more information in next week's update.  If anyone is sending in treats to share from home, please keep in mind that we are a peanut/nut, and fish free school.

October 6th

October is flying by and Thanksgiving is approaching. The class will be counting feathers to decorate turkeys, as well as writing about things that we are thankful for.  We will be practicing number formation using our whiteboards with the focus on 2& 3.  

Our letters this week are "c" and "o" and the trick word is "the".  I will be sending home a laminated sheet with the Fundations writing grid on it and a white board marker. This is yours to keep and use with your child if they would like to do some extra letter printing using the Fundations wording. We will be working on syllables and some Fall/Halloween rhyming. In Writer's Workshop we will be talking about how illustrators use tools and that illustrators use sticks, circles, and boxes when they draw.

Book Fair- The school will be hosting our Scholastic Book Fair fundraiser this week. The flyers were sent home last week and each class will have an opportunity to visit the fair. Our class will be visiting the Book Fair on Monday but there is no obligation to make a purchase.

Picture Day

Just a reminder that picture day is Tuesday, October 7th.

There are no classes for students on Friday, October 10th due to a Professional Learning Day for staff and there are no classes on Monday, October 13th in observance of Thanksgiving.

September 29th

It is hard to believe that we are almost one full month into school and are heading into October! This week we will be doing some Fall  and Thanksgiving related literacy and numeracy activities.

We will be counting leaves to match to a number, as well as doing a roll the dice and colour in the apple activity to work on number recognition (1-6). 

At this point in the year, kindergarten students mainly use pictures to tell their stories when writing. We have been learning that storytellers share stories, retell stories and act out stories. Our letters this week are i and u and our trick word is "can".

The big book we are reading this week is I Was Walking Down the Road by Sarah E. Barchas. It is a rhyming book that talks about all the animals that the little girl in the story finds on her walk. It is a fun story for predicting and identifying rhyming words. The following link is a YouTube  video of a read aloud of the story. 

I Was Walking Down the Road 

Some reminders for upcoming events

Monday- Orange Shirt Day

Tuesday- No school in recognition of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation 

Wednesday- UPEI Nurses Teddy Bear Clinic -  Your children can bring in their stuffed animals or dolls for some TLC from our UPEI nursing students.

Picture Day is October 7th for English kindergarten classes.

Orange Shirt Day

Glen Stewart will be having Orange Shirt Day on Monday, September 29th

Orange Shirt Day is September 30th. Every Child Matters is a movement that is sweeping our country and YOU are invited to become a part of it! At six years old, Phyllis Webstad was excited about starting school. Her grandmother took her shopping and Phyllis picked out a shiny orange shirt to wear on the first day of residential school. Her new shirt was taken from her on that first day and she never saw it again. Phyllis' story is similar to many residential school survivors. Held annually on September 30th, this day honours these survivors of Indian Residential Schools. 

September 22nd

Monday marks the beginning of Fall. We will be starting to talk about the season and all the various topics that surround this, such as leaves, pumpkins, and Thanksgiving. We will be reading the big book Changing Colours and creating books of our own. We will also be reading the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Eric Carle . I will be using the story as a launching point for some retelling, colouring ,sequencing  and number identification activities.

We have finished up our Fundations orientation week and have begun Unit One. The focus letters  are "n" and "m" as well as last week's letter t, b and f. We will also begin to talk about sight words (high-frequency) or "trick words" as they are referred to in Fundations. This week's trick words are "I' and "see" .

In numeracy we will be working on counting and creating sets, as well as reviewing last week's concept of more, fewer, and as many as.

Glen Stewart will be having our annual Terry Fox run on Thursday. 

Terry Fox Run/Walk

 In 1980, Terry Fox faced considerable challenges while running the equivalent of a marathon a day for 143 days during his 3,339 mile Marathon of Hope.  It was all about effort for Terry.  He challenged himself every day with one goal in mind: raise the most money he could to end cancer.  Now it's Glen Stewart Primary School's turn.

On Thursday, September 25th the students of Glen Stewart Primary School will be walking and running around the school playground in memory of Terry Fox.  We are asking students to make a small donation of a twoonie or a loonie to help raise money for Terry's cause.  Students can bring donations to their classroom teacher or families can make a donation of their choice directly to the Terry Fox Foundation by clicking on the following link:  

Terry Fox School Donation 

September 15th

We are  working on our fine motor skills and pencil grasp. The children will be doing a section from the program "Handwriting Without Tears" called Mat Man. It helps to develop a child's body awareness, drawing, and counting skills.

We will be continuing to get to know one another in class and doing some All About Me books. The class will be talking about our favorite foods, toys etc... and all the things that make us all unique and special. This week also marks the beginning of our Fundations program. I will be sending home an information packet about this literacy based program with your child this week.

In numeracy we will be starting some number sense activities concentrating on the concepts of fewer, as many as, and more.

Just a reminder of the upcoming Meet The Teacher evening this  Wednesday from 6-6:15.

September 9th 

This week in class we will be working on establishing our classroom routines and expectations. We will be talking about what is acceptable behaviour both in our classroom and out on the playground. Our class will be reading the book “Hands Are Not for Hitting” and we will be doing some activities around what positive things that we can use our hands for. We want kindergarten to be a happy and safe environment for everyone! We will also be learning about each other this week and finding out what makes us all special and unique. We will be talking about birthdays and how we got our names. I will be sending home a sheet for you to fill out the story of how your child got their name and then sharing these stories with each other as they are returned. Thank you for helping out with this activity.  The class will be involved in various literacy activities  and we will be working on our scissor skills as well.

If you have not already had an opportunity to do so, please sign and return the forms that were sent home in your child's homework bag last week. Thank you and have a great week!

Meet The Teacher Night- We will be having a Meet the Teacher night on Wednesday, September 17th at 6:00.  I look forward to seeing you then.